Dallas Mavericks leave it late to beat Utah Jazz 116-101 – NBA Recap
What makes a basketball game a real treat for the followers is a worthy rivalry and when it comes to a match between two teams vying for ascendency in the same conference, it is certainly an epic.
Dallas Mavericks and Utah Jazz, ranked 6th and 7th respectively in the Western Conference, faced each other at the American Airlines Center. After a heart throbbing competition the defending champions succeeded
in defeating the Jazz by 116-101, securing their 12th victory in the season.
Ironically, Dallas had to start off without their three of their starters due to injuries and had to rely on bench strength.
Nevertheless six Mavericks scored in double figures for points, with season’s best performance by Rodrigue Beaubois, who scored an impressive 22 points, followed by Lamar Odom with 19, Jason Terry’s 18 points off the bench.
Commenting on Beaubois performance, Jazz head coach Tyrone Corbin said that "He was in the paint a lot. He broke us down a little bit and he made some shots early. He was able to get his teammates involved by collapsing the defence
and kicking it out to the 3-point shooters. He did a really good job for them."
Mavericks had to face a major setback at the start of the game, with their point guard Jason Kidd retiring due to strained right calf at 2:13 of the first quarter. However Jason’s absentia couldn’t inflict many worries as Shawn
Marion scored 16 points and Vince Carter added 12 points paving the way towards this stupendous victory.
On the other hand, the Jazz performed greatly as well, with an impressive showdown of professional skills and creating a symphony of synchronization amongst team mates. Paul Millsap scored 20 points, followed by Al Jefferson 19
and Enes Kanter’s 12 points respectively.
From the start of the game till the end it was a close call for both the teams as no one could dominate the other substantively, by the end of the first quarter both teams stood a tie with 30-30 points each.
It kept on raining points on either side of the court and by the end of the second quarter the score stood at Utah 50 and Dallas 58.
Dallas pulled the trigger in the third and coutesy an in itial burst, they maintained a lead of ten points at least. Finally at the end of quarter Jazz narrowed the gap by six points and the score stood at 82-88 for Dallas.
Dallas however further stretched their lead in the final frame and sealed the fate via a Dominique Jones slam dunk in the last moments. The final score stood at Dallas 116 and Utah 101.
Dallas shot 58 percent from 3-point range.
The turning point of the game came late when Jazz narrowed the gap 82-80 with a 17-5 run that included 11 points by Millsap. Under the cosh, the Mavs responded with a 28-9 run. The most significant effort in that run was Odom’s
two 3 pointers and a three point play Beaubois.
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